A trick of time

At surfer's beach

truth be told

a rush of splayed bamboo

screens the waves

good sets rolling in

the young like seals

let gravity be the guide

surfers shower and peel wet suits to reveal new skin 

we talk

re-construct

the past

share our sides of it

and wonder what happened in all those years

See?  It's all good

I am who I am

who I was meant to be

after all these years.

Me with my conventional joys, clogged heart, head in the sand

wondering what it I had just let go?

You with your uncut cords and highway stories from beyond the maps,

wondering what a white picket fence might have meant.

We think back to the paths we crossed and wonder how all this time's gone by

(And we both know time's a trick don't we?)

a trick of memory

Neil Young:

Thinking about what a
Friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.


Or perhaps just a mis-placed atom

in a complex molecule of memory

bent to serve a story

that would make life bearable.

remove the atom

split the element

Can time alone turn a sore spot tender?

i know i didn't do

what you said

i know you have to remember it

the way you do

i forgive you this way

out of the old pain

and remain myself

Ian and Sylvia are singing Early Morning Rain

I set myself up for this

As I work grading student papers in my study

the cat sits on my desk.

His tail carves a question mark in the space before the screen.

I'm in the early morning rain

40 years ago.

waiting to move on

very stuck on the ground.



Like then,  I best be on my way

In the early morning pain.